Lift news from Serre Chevalier

I had a beer with Xavier last night, he who knows all about the lifts and workings of the ski domain of Serre Chevalier, so I can tell you exactly what the score is for the new season.

The new fast, six-man lift to the top of the Cucumelle red run is already under construction, trucks and helicopters are bringing stuff in now and the completion date is expected to be by Christmas.

This lift will begin below the Frejus lift, but will have to get up there to find out where.

The Balme lift will close once this new lift opens, and will be removed in entirety soon after that.

This means we’re going to lose the blue and black Balme pistes, the blue was nice but it’s no great loss for the black as it was in the sun most of the day and as such melted and froze making it quite cruddy.

Access to the off piste, Pres de Loup back towards Monetier will be now only possible by walking along the ridge from this new lift or the little Cucumelle lift that brings you up from the Monetier side.

Something interesting, is that all the land up there is still private so it’s quite a negotiation to get access, it is this that makes change somewhat difficult and, well an uphill struggle really.